“"Every
animal knows more than you do." -- Native
American Proverb (Nez Perce)

I woke
up early one morning and Sadie was barking. This was unusual because
she lives by the old proverb: “Always put off until tomorrow anything
that interferes with a nap.”

I decided
to go see why she was barking. I peeked into the room and there in front
of the fireplace sat both Sadie and Ally Cat. I could tell at a glance
that they
had the fireplace cornered! Each of them had planted themselves oneither
side of the hearth, watching it closely. I wondered what would make them
both decide to sit there together with Sadie barking at an empty fireplace.
Ally Cat normally doesn’t descend her lofty throne on the windowsill
for anyone unless food is involved.

It wasn’t
the time of year for Santa so I wondered what other intruder could
possibly enter via the chimney. I decided to observe the situation for
a while to see
why they were so engrossed with the fireplace so I took my post on the
couch with
a cup of tea in hand. The cat switched her tail and laid her ears
back as if offended
by my presence in the room. She seemed quite sure that she
had the
situation under control and I figured she probably did. She
believes in, “Striking
while the feet are bare” and I have learned to wear thick socks.

I was
getting bored and about to call off the watch when suddenly I heard something.
Yes, there it was again! It was a scraping sound. Sadie got excited again,
barking and looking at me as if I were completely irresponsible for not at least
having a shotgun handy. About that time, I heard a fluttering noise along
with what could only be described as a bird scream. Yes, there was a bird
in distress in the chimney!

I remembered
cleaning the fireplace one time when we first moved into this
house. At that time, I had opened the damper just to test it when
a dead
bird fell out. Upon remembering that, what else was there to do? I couldn’t
just leave a screaming bird in the chimney so I decided I would open
the damper to see if I could get the bird out because it obviously couldn't
get out at the top of the chimney.

I began
by moving all the stuff away from in front of the fireplace. With
all the
paraphernalia out of the way, I needed to move the fire screen so I pulled
it away from the front of the fireplace. Now I was ready to open the
damper so I reached up inside the fireplace, as both animals waited expectantly, but
I couldn't seem to find the damper. After a couple of tries, I decided
that I needed to call for reinforcements. I got to thinking thatmy husband
might like to be the bird hero of the day and help me. After all, I didn't
want to be greedy and claim all the glory for saving a bird’s life.

I called
to my husband a couple of times and finally I heard him say, "Where are
you?” This
is coming from the tech man who travels the country and carries a cell
phone, compass, and a global positioning device but he still
can't seem to find me in the house.

Finally,
he came into the room, looked the situation over, and said, “You’re
going to let a bird loose in the house?” I couldn't remember the
old proverb
about birds flying in the house but I came up with one of my own,
“Better a live bird in the house than a dead one in the chimney.”

“I
thought maybe you could catch it before it flies out of the chimney ifyou
keep the fire screen close to the fireplace”, I suggested. He didn’t
show a lot of enthusiasm about that idea.

It took
him no time at all to reach up inside the fireplace and open the damper. All
at once, not one, but TWO birds were flying around in the house and the dog
and cat were going wild! The birds were trying to get away from the
dog that
was barking and chasing them and I don’t believe I’ve ever seen a cat
jump quite that high before.

I ran
for the front door to open it so the birds could fly outside but the
door was stuck! As I tried to hurry, I twisted and pulled on the
doorknob. It finally opened after I put one foot on the wall and
pulled with
all my might and fell down. I think I’ll be able to walk
normally again in a month or so.

Now,
the next problem was getting the birds to go out the door! Sadie
and Ally were trying to do their part by chasing them and Iimagine
those poor birds were wishing they had never come
out of that chimney at all!

I was
trying to keep the dog and cat from having an early lunch when Sadie
barked again and one bird found the door and flew away. My husbandbegan
trying to catch the other bird that had gotten in the window behind the
geraniums but it got away from him. Finally, after one more flight
through the
house, the last bird also flew out the door to join his friend in a bush
outside.

Since
we didn't catch a bird, we will never know if the old proverb is true:
“A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.” However, we do know
that the birds
were both starlings, so “Birds of a feather do flock together”.